Constitution needs to be improved, scholars say

JAKARTA (JP): Leading scholars Nurcholish Madjid and Deliar Noer have seconded the call by human rights campaigner Adnan Buyung Nasution for a revision of the Indonesian Constitution.

In a discussion marking the launch of a book by Buyung here on Monday, both Nurcholish and Deliar said that the social, economic and political changes which Indonesia has undergone have created conditions in which improvements to the Constitution are necessary.

Entitled Aspirasi Pemerintahan Konstitusional di Indonesia (The Aspiration for Constitutional Government in Indonesia), the new book was developed from Buyung's doctoral dissertation.

"It is high time for us to have the Constitution improved," Nurcholish told the large crowd of guests attending the book launching. "That, however, doesn't mean that the state ideology Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution have to be replaced."

Nurcholish, a lecturer at the Syarif Hidayatullah State Institute for Islamic Studies, said that the Constitution needs to be revised in order to better arm the nation to face social and political change, particularly in the field of human rights protection.

Deliar, who is known for his critical analysis of many government policies, said there have been deviations from the Constitution as it stands.

He said that polarization, in the form of undercurrents and "uppercurrents", is occurring in various parts of the political arena, from government institutions to mass organizations and political parties.

The expression "uppercurrents" was coined a few years ago to describe the initiatives of the political elite, while "undercurrents" is used to refer to the often-opposing wishes of society's lower layers.

Another speaker at Monday's discussion, political observer Cornelis Lay, said that political reforms do not necessarily improve political life, particularly if such reforms are restricted to improving the mechanisms for human rights protection.

"We have to also consider other factors, such as the existing political culture," said to the lecturer at Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University.

Lay said Indonesia's state ideology and Constitution are adequate as they are.

"The formulation of values and norms covered in Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution are more than enough to meet the increasing demands for guarantees of the protection of the people's basic political rights," he said.

In the book, which is subtitled "A Socio-legal Study of the Indonesian Constituent Assembly, 1956-1959", Buyung says the Constitution's conception of constitutional government is too limited.

So far, he argues, a government has been considered "constitutional" if it is run according to the Constitution or is not run in contravention of the Constitution.

"This limited and strict definition is true, but it is not enough to describe the essence of a constitutional government," Buyung says in the book. He argues that in some cases a government may go against the Constitution as long as it does so in the interests of the public.

The 400-page book provides a detailed analysis of the Constituent Assembly, the first legislative body established after Indonesia's first general elections in 1955. Buyung says the Assembly has often been overlooked by historians of modern Indonesia.

Buyung obtained his doctorate in constitutional law from the Rijks University in Utrecht, the Netherlands, in 1992.

About 1,000 people attended the book launching on Monday. (imn)